


Awakening of Flame

by queermoraghid (TheDoctorIsIcecube)



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Genre: Gen, Meeting, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 16:30:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13298772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/queermoraghid
Summary: The time has come for Mòrag to awaken the Jewel of the Empire.





	Awakening of Flame

Mòrag felt strangely nervous. It wasn’t something she was used to feeling; she was aware enough of her strengths and weaknesses and she always tried to weigh everything up before she did it. That way she wasn’t being reckless or foolish and she came across to others as a very reasonable person. But this was...more. This was the point at which her path could go two ways. Either she was worthy or she was not, and both had so many consequences that would change her position and she couldn’t work out all the facts here. At the most basic level, she would die, or she would gain her first blade. Unlike most people, though, her first blade would be the Jewel of Mor Ardain. No pressure. 

She’d been preparing for this her whole life. Combat training, building up her strength and determination so that touching the core crystal wouldn’t destroy her. Ideally, she would have liked to be at least eighteen before doing this. Unfortunately, Mor Ardain needed a new special inquisitor and they couldn’t have one without a blade.

She supposed she was fortunate to even get the chance to try and resonate with the core crystal. Normally, she wouldn’t be allowed. She was meant to be an adult. But everything had just gone sour all over, it seemed. With Father gone and Niall barely nine years old, they needed someone slightly more capable around who already had a position within the court. Naturally, most of the Senate were spineless, and it was left to her.

Which was why she was now standing in front of a pedestal in the royal treasury. No one wanted to move the core crystal from there in case they accidentally touched it and burned up, or found themselves bound to a very important blade by mistake. Mòrag glanced at the advisors on either side of her- they looked as nervous as she felt- and then reached out and grasped the blue crystal.

For the briefest of moments she thought of Niall. He had looked so pleased for her this morning, sitting at the head of the table. He’d just had a growth spurt and his toes could almost touch the ground when he was sitting in one of the high Senate chairs. He was so confident that she could do this. She closed her eyes and thought about how determined she was to help him in any way she could. The crystal was warm under her fingers, and the warmth spiked, and for a moment she could hear the blood rushing through her head and she almost panicked. But then the sensation passed, replaced by something completely different.

Mòrag opened her eyes just in time to see a puff of golden light, followed by the shape of someone tall forming out of blue particles. It was a woman- a woman that was more hair than anything else, all blue and purple and fiery. Her eyes were closed, and even as she turned her head to regard Mòrag, they stayed closed. 

“My name is Brighid. It will be my honour to serve you, my lady.” Something sprouted in her hands- the flaming whips that she’d heard about in the stories, Mòrag realised. “May I ask your name?” She smiled, and Mòrag felt a strange tight feeling in her chest. For a moment, she couldn’t even remember how to speak.

“Mòrag,” she managed, and her voice sounded strange and high and almost detached from her own mouth. Summoning must have really taken it out of her. “My name is Mòrag Ladair.” There was a whole procedure she was meant to go through here about asking if she could take the whips as her own weapon and reintroducing Brighid to her role as the Jewel of the Empire, but she felt frozen at this moment.

“A little young, aren’t you?” Brighid’s smile turned from polite to amused, and Mòrag felt herself blush. What was she supposed to do? Apologise? No- she should stand her ground.

“I am the most senior member of the house of the Emperor of Mor Ardain,” she said, drawing herself up as tall as she could manage. Time to try and remember that speech. “Soon to be the Special Inquisitor, representing His Majesty in all matters. I would be honoured if you would share your weapons with me and fight beside me as my blade, the Jewel of Mor Ardain’s grand Empire.”

“Why of course,” she said, and damn it why did Mòrag get the feeling that her tone held a hint of amusement? This was meant to be serious, not a joke. It wasn’t meant to be her, fourteen years old, admitting to the most precious blade in the Empire that she was the best they could do. “I would be honoured to stand by your side. Lead the way, Lady Mòrag.”

“Lead the- oh, right.” Mòrag had completely forgotten that she had to go and present herself to the public as the new special inquisitor. She glanced at her advisors, rolling her eyes when she discovered that they had both dropped to their knees. Brighid was intimidating, but she was a blade, she probably had very little idea of why anyone was kneeling before her. She had no memories, after all. Mòrag turned on her heel and headed out, managing to only glance nervously behind her once to check that Brighid was following.

There were people waiting outside the treasury, of course. The whole palace knew that she would be resonating with Brighid’s core crystal today, and by extension that meant pretty much the whole city knew. They’d all be buzzing with something, be it excitement or fear for what could potentially happen to the second in line to the Empire. There was a sort of audible collective sigh of relief when she stepped out into the main halls of the palace.

First, she wanted to go and find her brother. Mòrag strode through the halls with a little more confidence now, eager to see the look on his face. As she walked, she noticed something new- an ever so slightly warm feeling in her gut that hadn’t been there before. Maybe this was part of bonding with a blade- she’d heard that some blades and drivers could even feel each other’s emotions. It was sort of exciting, really, even if Brighid was intimidating and almost definitely thought she was a silly little kid playing at being grown-up.

Mòrag had always been aware that the people of the palace respected her. They all knew what she looked like and every single one of them knew the power she had even if she was still rather young. She’d always been aware of it, but never like she was now. As she walked through the halls to find her brother, no one approached her. Almost everyone took a step away to allow her to pass and a few people bowed their heads. It was strange, the amount of respect she commanded now she was a driver.

She pushed open the doors to Niall’s throne room in one motion, and the young emperor immediately paused in whatever conversation he’d been having. As soon as he saw her, saw Brighid behind her, he beamed, jumping up out of his chair and sprinting over to embrace her. Not at all the behaviour of your typical emperor, but then again your typical emperor wasn’t usually nine years old.

“Your Majesty,” she said, meaning for her tone to sound scolding. The problem with that was she was smiling too much for it to actually sound like she was annoyed. She probably just sounded fond. “It appears I have come to relieve you of your current task in favour of instating me as Special Inquisitor.” Niall just beamed at her again and waved his hand to dismiss the councillors who had been talking him through something.

“I knew you’d do it,” he said, burying his face in her chest again. She could feel him still grinning, and she shook her head fondly and shuffled around to face Brighid. “This is the Emperor of Mor Ardain. My younger brother, Niall.” 

Upon realising that maybe he should actually look like an emperor, Niall hastily stepped away from her and clasped his hands behind his back. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Brighid. We are all honoured that you have chosen to accompany my dear sister as her blade. We know you will serve her well.” He ruined his fancy speech somewhat by glancing up at Mòrag and grinning at her again.

“It is an honour to serve you also, Your Majesty,” Brighid said, and she definitely sounded more sincere and sure than she had when she had first been awakened. That at least was comforting. Brighid also seemed to know what to do for all these formalities, which was nice. It meant she didn’t have to worry too much, at least.

“Wow…” Niall sounded a little awed for a moment, but then he pulled himself together. “Um- Mòrag, there’s a HUGE crowd down in the town square, I think they’re all waiting for you. You should go and say hi.”

“Say hi?” Mòrag laughed. “I think they’re all wanting to see Brighid more than me. But alright, I’ll go and ‘say hi’. You get back to whatever you were doing, and I’ll see you at dinner.”

“I wanted to come too…” He said, and Mòrag caught very quickly exactly what he was trying to do. He was going to say that he’d been worried about her and he wanted to get outside and see everyone who was happy for her and then be happy with her. She understood, but he had an Empire to run.

“You have to be there for your people. I’m sure someone in the palace needs you more than I do at the moment.” Mòrag pulled him into one last hug, then pulled away and held Niall firmly at arm’s length. “Go on. I’ll tell you exactly what happens, I promise.” Niall pouted at her, but eventually turned away to head back to his throne. Mòrag glanced up at Brighid, only to discover that she was looking at her with a strange kind of respect. Mòrag felt her cheeks heating up again.

“I will admit I was not expecting one so young,” she said, and Mòrag got ready to defend her brother. It wasn’t his fault that he was in this position, and personally she thought he was doing remarkably well considering his age. “How old is he?”

“Nine years old,” she said. “He’s very mature for his age and remarkably able at what he is able to do. For what he is not able to do he has advisors, councillors, and as many Senators as are willing to attempt to curry favour. They’re still yet to learn that he isn’t all that interested in child’s toys anymore.”

“For one so young, he does carry himself remarkably well. And you are excellent as well, my lady. I had my doubts when you summoned me, but I can assure you that they no longer weigh on my mind in the slightest.” Brighid smiled, and Mòrag blinked, surprised. She hadn’t been expecting a compliment like that.

She spluttered for a few moments at the compliment. Whenever people complimented her she knew it was for political gain, but with Brighid it was clearly different. She had no reason to say those things to her, because everyone expected her already. “It is an unfortunate situation,” she said, “that I will explain further once this is over with.”

“Of course, Lady Mòrag.” Brighid inclined her head respectfully, then took up her position of walking a foot or so behind Mòrag. As they made their way through the palace, plenty of people turned to stare, or to congratulate her- the attention didn't feel as sincere as Brighid’s compliment, though.

As she left the palace, she really saw what Niall meant by there being a huge crowd. The only other times she’d seen such a large crowd were for her parents’ funeral and her brother’s coronation. It was absolutely packed and there were people everywhere all straining to see the likely hurriedly erected platform where the ceremony would take place.

Standing tall, Mòrag hurried forwards, finding herself flanked by guards as she walked out to the platform. There were a few gasps, then cheers; loud, wild cheers, the sort that Mòrag knew from experience wouldn’t calm down for at least a minute or two. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back, and Brighid stepped up beside her.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to say all that much during the ceremony. There were fewer lines to learn beforehand, which was good. The problem was that it meant everyone else got a chance to speak, and god did the people running the ceremony spend forever talking. It was tradition to tell the tale of the first Special Inquisitor and of the importance of Brighid and then all of her roles. And then they started talking about Niall, and then about her. It just dragged on forever.

Unusually for Mor Ardain, it was a cold day, but Mòrag found that it bothered her a lot less than usual. Brighid wasn’t close enough for her flames to warm Mòrag properly, so she wondered why she wasn’t feeling the cold. Perhaps it was another one of the bonuses of being bonded to a fire blade.

“Lady Mòrag Ladair, do you accept the position of Special Inquisitor? Do you strive to protect His Majesty with life and limb, and assist him in all his endeavours? Will you dedicate your life to your people and your nation, the great Empire of Mor Ardain?” The words spoken made her smile and it was difficult not to grin wildly. Now the nervousness was over she felt honoured to be allowed to take this position so early in her life.

“I accept, and I will dedicate everything I have to my people and the Empire. I will protect Mor Ardain with my life, and I will strive every day to ensure that my people are happy.” Mòrag turned to the crowds that were watching her, and bowed her head for a moment. That was her part said, she had done everything she needed to.

Everyone cheered and clapped for her, and it felt amazing, honestly. She had never been too popular with the people of Mor Ardain; for a long time she had been seen as the potential heir to the throne and many didn't like that or the power she had in the legacy of that expectation. But here she was, proving her worth to them. She would continue to prove it for as long as she could.


End file.
